Beer Bean-Stuffed Poblano Peppers

These stuffed peppers are my kind of Mexican food: fresh and full of flavor, filling but not too heavy. They’re the first complete recipe I’ve cooked from Sara and Hugh Forte’s beautiful new cookbook, The Sprouted Kitchen, and I can easily see why they are one of Sara’s favorites to cook for company.

I feel pretty safe in assuming that most of you, as readers of this little whole foods blog, are familiar with Sprouted Kitchen. Sara’s recipes, which are photographed by her husband Hugh, are always vibrant, inspiring and feature fresh, seasonal produce at its finest.

Sara and her publisher, Ten Speed Press, kindly sent me an advance copy, which at first flip through sent my mind into a tizzy with its gorgeous photos and ingenious recipes. The cover of my copy already has a few splatters on it and I expect there will be many more to come. This one is a keeper, friends. I think you are going to want a copy of your own.

One of my favorite features of the book are Sara’s meal planning suggestions, like which recipes to cook for a brunch with friends or a slow morning at home, make-ahead snacks for house guests and happy hour with the girls.

These peppers are on the menu for a casual dinner for guests, which Sara suggests serving along with her white sangria, papaya and red quinoa salad with Mexican caesar dressing and coconut lime tart. Despite their impressive names, I assure you that these recipes do not call for impossible ingredients or intimidating instructions. They are as brilliantly simple as they are fresh and flavorful. Now then, who wants to come over for dinner?!

Instructions

In a large bowl, soak the beans in plenty of water for at least 6 hours, or up to overnight.

Drain the beans and set them aside. In a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil, onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes, until the onion is just softened.

Add the soaked beans and 2 ½ cups water, stir, and bring the beans to a simmer. Simmer until the beans are cooked through (but not totally tender), 45 minutes to 75 minutes. Add the beer, chipotle and cinnamon and simmer until much of the liquid is absorbed, around 20 minutes. If necessary, add some water to keep the beans from drying out. Add ½ to ¾ teaspoon salt, to taste, and cook for another 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and set the beans aside.

Grease a large baking dish or cast iron skillet(s)**. Cut a slit down the length of each poblano. Use your fingers (you might want to wear gloves) and a paring knife to remove, and then discard, the membranes and seeds from each pepper.

In a bowl, mix together the shredded Jack and crumbled cotija/feta cheese with the lime juice. If there is still a good amount of liquid in your beans, drain off some of it. Mix the chopped tomatoes into the beans. Use a spoon to fill most of each pepper with beans, then stuff a handful of cheese inside. Brush the outside of each pepper with olive oil and bake for around 25 minutes, until the tops are roasted and golden and the pepper is tender all around. Serve peppers immediately, with the slit side up and garnished with cilantro.

Notes

Sara recommends serving the peppers with Spanish rice. I took the lazy route and cooked up 2 cups (dried) long grain brown rice and mixed in ½ cup store-bought, mild salsa verde.

You can also cook these peppers on the grill. Sara says to preheat the grill to medium-high heat, leaving one section over indirect heat. Grill the peppers over direct heat, rotating them every few minutes in order to evenly char the outsides, 6 to 8 minutes total. Transfer them to indirect heat for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the insides are melty and the peppers have softened up.

*To substitute canned beans here, rinse and drain the beans and then sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil as directed in step 2. Don’t add water, just the beer, chipotle and cinnamon, and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 to 15 minutes. You probably don’t need to add salt since canned beans contain so much sodium, so you can proceed with stuffing the peppers once the beer and bean mixture has reduced. Note that Sara’s original recipe calls for pinto beans or Rio Zape beans.

**I didn’t think of it until later, but perhaps baking the peppers in a cast iron pan would have helped cook the bottom sides of the larger peppers (you could even preheat the pan in the oven to further the process). I also think corn cut fresh from the cob would make a nice addition to the beer bean stuffing.

This recipe can be gluten-free if and only if you use gluten-free beer.

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #cookieandkate.

I’m going to have to make a take on this with the chiles from my little plant! I’m starving & this is sounded super awesome. I love Mexican & he hates it (no joke the man ordered chicken fingers at a taco joint…). I need my fix because it’s been way, way too long.

This looks fantastic! I’m so excited to get my Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook in the mail! Any day now.. And yes I think a mexican inspired dinner party needs to happen soon. Your margaritas will be the perfect thing to round out the evening. Who says you can’t have sangria and a margarita, right?

Oh, Chile Poblanos! Memories of living back in Mexico are flooding into my brain. Will definitely be trying this recipe the moment I can get my hands on some. We used to stuff them with rice with raisins and pine nuts. Can’t wait to try!

My girlfriend and I love your blog-all your recipes turn out amazing! We tried this recipe out last night and, it turned out great :) We really couldn’t find poblano peppers (I know, I live in a very obscure place) so we substituted serrano peppers and they turned out delicious.

One quick comment for those who haven’t worked with canned chipotle chile in adobo. From our experience last night, I am fairly certain the recipe calls for just ONE chile NOT the whole can, unless you are very daring! Maybe re-phrasing this sentence might help novice chefs? We were able to take some of the heat off and save the dish by adding some corn and lime. Just a note for those who follow our path!

Omg these were delicious. I didn’t gut the peppers very well, so they were crazy hot, but the recipe itself was perfect. This is my second recipe I’ve tried on this blog. It’s Mexican cuisine week at my household. So far, your recipes have been great!

Quick Q on this – the poblanos stay in their raw state until baked? I know frequently they are pre-charred or grilled but I didn’t see any notes to do that here? Unless i missed it – making tonight so just wanted to double check : )

YOU GUYS! You need to make this, it is SOOOO good! We used canned beans and I am on weight watchers so we used reduced fat feta and shredded mexican blend cheese. DELICIOUS!!! We couldn’t fit our poblanos in our regular skillet so we used our LeCreuset dutch oven (the shallow one) and pre-heated it. The recipe says it feeds four but we had enough for six. If you serve your pepper over rice it’s a meal! Nom nom nom this was so flipping good even my meatatarian husband loved it!

I am doing a Mexican Father’s Day feast for my family and this Beer Bean Stuffed Poblano dish sounds delicious. It doesn’t look like the peppers are charred on the grill. Would this enhance the flavor? Also, if you see this in time to answer, could I assemble tonight and bake tomorrow? I will post a pic and let you know how it turns out!